Remedial Potions
by Demented Insane Spirit
Summary: SSHG Hermione has never been caught before, so she never expected that muttering instructions to Neville could get her in deep trouble with Professor Snape and end up with Remedial Potions at night.


DIS: (sigh) Will I completely and utterly ruin this story or won't I? I have tried countless times to make a successful Severus Snape/Hermione Granger story and every time, it ends up with one of them going out of character. So anyway...Hopefully I can do well on this one-shot...Or something. Read below and enjoy!

X

_Title: Remedial Potions_

_Rating: T (just in case)_

_Genre: Romance_

_Summary: SSHG Hermione has never been caught before, so she never expected that muttering instructions to Neville could get her in deep trouble with Professor Snape and end up with Remedial Potions at night. _

_Disclaimer: I, DIS, do not own the ideas, characters, or plot of Harry Potter...Unfortunately._

_Notes/Warnings: Severus Snape/Hermione Granger; One-shot; Disregards Book Six_

X

_Remedial Potions_

He was doing again. He was going around the classroom, glaring at every Gryffindor and only giving cool, indifferent looks to the Slytherins. He was coming towards him. It was sure to be hell when he arrived, too. Almost there. He had paused at Dean Thomas' cauldron and said a particularly smug comment, which made Dean flush in embarrassment and anger. But no, that wasn't a big enough of a distraction for him. He was steadily coming down the row towards him. The female beside him didn't seem to realize it and Neville Longbottom followed her precise instructions. Oh, no, why was Professor Snape giving him such a nasty look? And it seemed that he was focusing that look on Hermione Granger, too. His pace quickened and Neville felt his heart drop to his waistline. Oh, yes, it was going to be hell because Hermione _still_ hadn't noticed him.

"...And stir it six times counter clockwise...Neville, are you listening to me?" Neville turned to her, pale as parchment, before two sallow hands slammed on the table, startling them both. Neville turned to Professor Snape with wide, anxious eyes. Hermione was looking particularly startled, too.

The Potions professor gave a smirk and asked, "I thought you had already finished your potion, Miss Granger?" He asked quietly, but in a malicious tone. His gaze flickered to her potion that was finished. "It looks finished to me, so then _why_ are you repeating the instructions?" He returned his gaze to Neville's potion and gave a disgusted look. "Miss Granger, how many times have I rebuked you for giving Longbottom instructions through the corner of your mouth?" He was snarling at them now and Neville appeared thoroughly devastated and Hermione's face had turned three shades of red in embarrassment. As for Ron and Harry, they were watching the situation with furious expressions, their eyes smoldering with hatred for Professor Snape. "Ten points from Gryffindor," he decided, straightening, raising his wand and with a flick, he vanished the potion in both Hermione and Neville's cauldrons. Hermione's face paled in horror at receiving a 'zero' for the day. "You'll think twice before muttering instructions to him, Miss Granger. I'm sure," he continued icily, glaring at Neville, "that he can read the board himself and _follow directions_." He turned, his cloak fluttering around his ankles and returned to observing other students' potions. Ron made a rather rude hand gesture to Snape behind his back, before turning to his own potion.

At the end of class, Hermione hesitated and told her two friends, "Go ahead to the common room. I want to see if I can make up today's work somehow." Ron snorted and muttered, "Right git, Snape is..."

"Good luck," Harry said sincerely. "And don't feel too bad if he doesn't let you make it up. It would be expected." Hermione nodded mutely and when all the students had cleared out of the classroom, she approached Snape's desk hesitantly. He was grading and didn't even look up when she stopped in front of him.

"Um, Professor?" She spoke up quietly. He sighed through his nostrils and looked up, appearing thoroughly miffed at being interrupted. His dark eyes were narrowed in a glare and she knew that she was doomed and would probably end up with the zero for the rest of the year. "I was wondering...Is there any way that I could make up today's work? I-I mean..." Slowly, an embarrassed blush seeped onto her cheek. "I mean that – "

"Miss Granger, are you aware that since the first time you entered my class, you haven't had even _one _zero?" He demanded, obviously irritated with her nervousness.

"I beg your pardon?" She blinked rapidly, appearing surprised by his statement.

"This won't affect your _perfect_ grade so long as you stop muttering to Longbottom!"

"But, sir! He has problems understanding the instructions!" Hermione protested, surprised that she hadn't even been able to explain her reason for staying after class.

"My instructions," he growled, his eyes flashing, "are precise and there is nothing wrong with them, Miss Granger. It is not my problem that Longbottom's brain finds them too complex to understand." Her jaw dropped in indignation and when Snape saw that she was about to speak again, he continued, "And if it weren't for your interference, you would not have had a zero for today. Now, I'll give you two choices, Miss Granger. You can either take Remedial Potions at night every night for five nights a week for three weeks or you can keep that zero of yours!"

"Then I'll take Remedial Potions!" Hermione huffed, extremely agitated. For a long moment, the dungeons were silent and Snape was glowering at her, apparently very irritated with her declaration. At last, he returned to his grading, leaving her standing before him, feeling rather foolish. She had obviously been dismissed, but she didn't know whether he was going to accept her decision or simply make her do the potion over again.

"Very well, Miss Granger," he spoke up quietly. "I expect you here tonight at eight. When you have successfully finished three weeks worth of Remedial Potions, I'll give you an O for today's work." He shot her a dirty look. "Since you are so accustomed to O's." She didn't answer him, but instead gave a small, grateful smile.

"Thank you, professor." When she received no response, she hurried away to join her friends in the Gryffindor common room.

X

"R-Remedial Potions?" Neville stuttered after Hermione had explained her predicament to Ron, Harry, and Neville (who was just sitting with them at the time.) Neville had never felt more terrible in his life. He had been humiliated by Snape with Hermione, caused her to get a zero in class, and now she was forced to take Remedial Potions simply so that she could make up today's work. He pitied Hermione, too, because she would be spending three weeks at night with Professor Snape, who almost _everyone_ despised. "Oh, Hermione..." He groaned miserably. "I'm so sorry, this is my fault..."

"It's fine, Neville," Hermione assured him, grimacing a bit. "I mean, I shouldn't have expected it to be so easy. After all, this is Professor Snape we're talking about, not Professor Flitwick." Neville nodded glumly and Ron clapped him on the back reassuringly. "Besides, I won't have any problems with it. He'll probably give us potions we already went over!"

X

That night, when Hermione arrived in the dungeons, she found that the classroom was empty. "Professor?" She called in a soft voice, her dark, soulful eyes flickering back and forth around the classroom.

"You're late, Miss Granger," a cool voice hissed in her ear. Scrambling away, she noticed that Snape had been standing near the door, waiting for her. Nervously, she looked to the clock above the door and swallowed, saying, "Only by a minute." He sneered at her and stalked to his desk, settling in it. "Trust me, Miss Granger, a minute is more than you think. It can separate life from death and you can do so many things in but a minute." He shot her a cold, condescending look. "Must I explain myself further?" She shook her head mutely, her hair flicking her in the face. "Good, now this – " he waved his wand, instructions coming to the board " – is what you'll be brewing and these – " he flicked his wand again and the cupboard to his ingredients swung open " – will be available for you to use." Hermione went to work and after she had her ingredients, she read the instructions through and stared at the board for a long, stretched period. She hesitated, before looking at Snape, who was sitting at his desk, gazing at her unblinkingly. When her eyes met his, one of his dark brows arched upward smoothly. "Is there something you need, Miss Granger?"

"...No, but professor...this is a heavy sleeping potion and is N.E.W.T. level. We haven't gone over this yet. You can't possibly expect me to – "

"Remedial Potions is assigned to _improve_ your skills, Miss Granger," he told her with a twisted smile. "As you have a far more advanced mind than the other students, I decided to give you something more difficult. After all, if I simply had you redo all the potions we've already gone over, you wouldn't exactly learn anything, would you?" His smile dropped and he ordered, "Now get to work." Hermione returned to her cauldron, looking utterly disappointed. Apparently this wasn't going to be as easy as she suspected.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, Snape was watching her every move. She was cautious, Snape observed, and was careful to look over the instructions as many times as she needed. Snape wouldn't normally have been so benevolent when it came to one of Harry Potter's friends, but he had to admit that he had taken a liking to the insufferable know-it-all, Hermione Granger. Though he was partially annoyed when she always raised her hand and knew the answer, he had to admit it was rather impressive. Not to mention, at the moment, her potion was giving off a blue mist like it was supposed to be. Though she struggled at times with his class, she somehow managed to come out at top. However, as a prideful Slytherin, Snape could not find himself entirely liking her. The fact that she was Potter's best friend, along with Ronald Weasley's, seemed to gnaw at his mind. Plus, she was a Mudblood and Slytherins were known to hate Mudbloods. Hermione was adding the last ingredient now. She carefully stirred it eight times counter-clockwise and then five times clockwise. Snape smiled grimly when it turned a dark purple. She had successfully made the potion and without any problems, too, it seemed.

"Professor?" Hermione spoke up quietly. Snapping out of his thoughts, he frowned at her and she continued, "I'm, ah...finished."

"Is that so?" He stood up and went to her cauldron, peering at it. He knew when she had done the fifth stir clockwise and it turned the purple that there would be nothing wrong with it. As he gaze at the liquid inside, he nodded and said, "Very well. Clean up." She licked her lips hesitantly and nodded. With a flick of her wand, she vanished the liquid, causing Snape to pause in his tracks. He was staring at her empty cauldron. No student had ever cleaned their cauldron like that before. They didn't know _how_. "Miss Granger."

"Yes, professor?" She spoke up from collecting her things. "Did I...do something wrong?" Hermione questioned, suddenly fearful of the look on his face.

"Do you want to explain to me what you just did?"

Appearing puzzled, she responded, "I cleaned – "

"With that spell?" He interrupted. "No student learns that spell for awhile, Miss Granger. Explain to me how you were taught it."

"I...wasn't taught it, sir," she answered, surprised that he was so interested in where she learned her spells. "I read it in a book and decided to try it." He was frowning at her, his eyes narrowed in thought. Snape couldn't imagine a student actually reading something and comprehending it, let alone being able to perform the spell. After a long, lingering moment in which they gazed at each other, he nodded mutely.

"Impressive, Miss Granger," he remarked in a soft voice. "Hmm..." He didn't want to give her too much credit, but he thought...Yes, he supposed it might not make _too_ much of a difference... "...Five points to Gryffindor, then. To your outstanding...performance." Hermione blinked twice, then gave a small, shy smile, returning to her things, gathering them. As she moved to leave, she paused at the door and said, "Goodnight, professor." He nodded to her silently and she left, surprised at her Potions professor's actions.

_He isn't that bad, I suppose_.

X

The next day, Snape watched to see if Hermione was giving Neville Longbottom instructions again. He wasn't surprised to see that she was, though very cautiously than last time. She was doing her own potion as she told him instructions and, unfortunately, since she kept glancing from Snape, to the black board, to her potion, and then to Neville, her own potion turned into something that was less than what it was supposed to be. Neville felt responsible and Snape watched out the corner of his eye as they switched potions. Hermione was gnawing on her bottom lip and discontinued giving directions to Neville from there on. She seemed to think that nothing could make the potion much worse.

"Your potion should be turning a dull emerald by now," Snape announced, moving around the class. He paused by Neville's cauldron, raising an eyebrow. "I see that Miss Granger wasn't whispering the instructions in your ear, Longbottom," he remarked, his gaze flickering to Hermione, who looked uncomfortable. "But then again, I suppose after she messed up her own potion and you two switched, she didn't think on giving you the instructions anymore." Neville gawked at him while Hermione avoided looking at her professor. She had had a feeling he had been watching the entire time. Why he hadn't said anything before, she had no idea. "You should be lucky, though, that I think your partner is deserving of the potion she received." Snape eyed Longbottom with evident disgust. Eventually, he left their table and went to Harry and Ron's, criticizing them on their potions. The Slytherins snickered, more interested in Harry Potter's humiliation than Neville's. Hermione wondered why she was the only one that wasn't constantly bullied by Snape. Even before last night when he had complimented her, he had never taken to bullying her except occasionally calling her a know-it-all.

X

That night as Hermione was preparing her cauldron for the difficult potion she was about to brew, her curiosity got the best of her and she spoke, "Professor Snape?"

"What now?" He demanded rather brusquely.

"I was...just curious as to why you bully Neville so much." He scowled at her.

"Because he is incompetent and doesn't make an effort in my class."

Hermione looked taken aback and retorted, "He might do better if you didn't criticize him at every small thing he does wrong! There are Slytherins that can barely make a potion, but you don't say anything about them simply because they're in your House! _And_, if they do something wrong, you ignore it, but if we Gryffindors do something wrong, you take points from our House!" For a long time, she stood, remaining furious, before her confidence wavered at the petulant and livid look on his face. _Oh no...I've gone too far. I just lectured my _professor "I-I'm sorry, I didn't – "

"You really," he sneered, stalking towards her, "are an insufferably know-it-all, Hermione Granger." He soon was before her, the table being the only thing that separated them. "Do you think the Head of Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw don't do the same?"

"Professor McGonnagall does no such thing! She believes in equality and – and – "

"You are pushing your luck, Miss Granger," he informed her in a cool tone. She felt the blood drain from her face as she realized if she kept lecturing him on every single thing then she wouldn't only lose many points for Gryffindor, but would also end up without her grade for yesterday.

"I..." Hermione swallowed and continued, "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be lecturing you on this, but...I mean..." He continued to glare at her, before giving a snort of weakly concealed disgust, before turning around and returning to his desk. Hermione bowed her head and went back to doing her work. She had no idea why she had suddenly started to harp on Professor Snape about such trivial things and even more so, she had no idea why he hadn't taken points from her House or worse, given her detention. _I feel terrible for what I did. _She glanced up to see that her professor was grading essays, his eyes narrowed in contempt.

When she was finished and he merely gave a nod to her potion and told her to clean up, she spoke up in a barely audible voice, "I'm really sorry."

"What did you say?" He snapped, having not heard her and expecting it to be something vulgar.

"I said that...I was really sorry. I shouldn't have been so rude." She raised her eyes to his face and realized that she had never really apologized for saying something when it came to her Potions professor before.

"As you are a proud know-it-all, Miss Granger," he said with a frown, "you enjoy pointing out everything, so I'll forgive you this one time. Don't expect it to happen again." She merely nodded and hurried away. _The girl vexes me, _Snape thought to himself, _but there is something about her..._

X

"So how are Remedial Potions with Snape?" Harry asked conversationally over breakfast two weeks and two days later. Hermione couldn't help but find herself warming up to the Potions professor a bit. He wasn't as cruel of a person as her friends made him out to be and he never really acted that way to her. She was seeing a different person during the night lessons. She was finding herself receiving more compliments and actually staying a little longer to have a decent conversation with him. After that night when she apologized to him, the ice that was between them seemed to collapse. She was no longer just 'Potter's friend,' and he was no longer the 'critical, nasty Potions professor.' If Hermione ever admitted to actually beginning to like Snape to Harry or Ron, she knew that they would blow up on her.

"It's...okay," Hermione confessed after a moment. "I'm learning new potions, so it's actually quite exciting." Harry raised his eyebrows while Ron rolled his eyes, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth. "It's been almost two and a half weeks, so I only about three days left." The realization that she wouldn't be able to have a civil, intelligent conversation with her professor anymore made her slightly depressed, but she waved the feeling away. _I must be going mad if I'll actually be _missing _Remedial Potions..._She sighed to herself and ignored the feeling of loss as she opened her Ancient Runes book and poured over it, eating some toast and bacon here and there.

X

_Impossible, _Snape thought to himself that night. _Only three days left. _He scowled at his desk, staring at the calendar before him. _And I was actually enjoying these little night meetings. _He gave an inward snort of disgust with himself. _No, I haven't been, _he lied to himself. He almost grimaced, remembering a vivid dream he had went through last night. Brushing it from his mind, Snape saw that Hermione had finished cleaning up and had come up to his desk as she did so often.

"Professor, I am almost finished with Remedial Potions and I've done all the assignments correctly. I will still receive an O, won't I?" She asked.

"You haven't done anything wrong, have you?" He asked with a raised brow. With a wave of his wand, he conjured up a chair that was similar to his and she settled in it, resting her fingertips on his desk.

"No," she agreed. "I must confess, though, that I will miss it."

"Oh?"

"I've learned many new things and it's actually quite a good way to end a day with something new in your head and...and everything." She gave a nervous smile at the piercing gaze he held her with.

"Mmm. Indeed." He eyed her thoughtfully. "It will lonely down here in my dungeons when these last days are done with," he told her. She blinked and a flush seeped up to her cheeks.

"I'm sure you'll find something to occupy yourself with, professor," she said awkwardly.

"You think?" He queried, standing and moving towards her. "I prefer..._other things_ to occupy me." He took her face in his hands and Hermione swallowed, her lips parting.

"O-oh?" She murmured as he leaned down. A corner of his mouth tilted upward and before he closed the space between them, he murmured, "Yes." Hermione felt a fire ignite within her when his mouth touched hers. It was a simple, chaste kiss at first, then he brought himself away from her, his dark eyes glittering and crushed his mouth to hers in a deep, sensual kiss that knocked all rationality from Hermione's mind. At first, she had been thinking that it was wrong to be kissing her professor, but soon her mind was driven by the desire to keep him as close as she could. She wound her arms around his neck, her fingers burying deep in his ebony hair. A sound came from her throat and she was unaware of anything but him. She never would have suspected that she would be kissing him or feeling such a heat build between them. It was, she suspected, something so much more than just a kiss at that point.

At last, when they broke away, her face was flushed and his eyes were still gleaming, but both knew it was getting late and she had to return. "I-I'll be going," she whispered breathlessly, hurrying out of the classroom.

For the remaining three days, it was a normal beginning of Remedial Potions, but when she was ready to leave, she would always find herself either in his arms at the doorway, or in his lap at his desk. She knew that it would turn into something much less innocent and knew after the first day without Remedial Potions that she was fiercely attracted to him – him, being Severus Snape, her Potions professor.

Finally, a week after her she had finished with her night lessons, after one Potions class, she waited until everyone was gone and approached his desk. "Something you needed, Miss Granger?" He asked indifferently.

"Professor, may I have detention with you tonight?" She asked as steadily and calmly as she could. His famous, twisted smile curved his lips upward.

"I would be delighted to put you in detention with me, Miss Granger," he answered.

X

DIS: Hey! My first successful Harry Potter fic! Awesome! Yeah, well, I know it wasn't great, but damn it, you can never find good Snape/Hermione fics out there! (Not that mine's much better.) Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it and just so you know, this IS a one-shot and there won't be a sequel! Well, please review and tell me how you liked it! Ciao!


End file.
